This beautiful clipper is unquestionably the most costly of her size ever built in this vicinity. She was designed and modelled by her owner, W.W. Goddard, Esq., who also furnished her materials, and superintended her construction and equipment. She is, therefore, his own ship, as much as any ship can be the production of a single mind. She is sharp in the ends, with a fair angle of floor, and has great length for her tonnage, with fine proportions of breadth and depth. Her ends are beautiful and blend in perfect harmony with her general outline, and her sheer is at once bold and lively. Her stem is nearly upright, her sternpost entirely so, and the outline of her stern curvilinear. She is 172 feet long on the keel, 175 feet between perpendiculars on deck, and 185 over all from the knightheads to the taffrail. Her extreme breadth of beam is 33 feet, depth 21½ feet, including 7 feet 9 inches height of between decks, and she registers 800 tons. Her dead rise at half floor is 15 inches, swell or rounding of sides 12 inches, and sheer 3 feet.
For a head she has the full figures of an aerial nymph, with outstretched wings, and robed in flowing vestments of white, confined around the waist with a girdle of gold; and on her head a chaplet of flowers, also blazoned with gold. She is placed to correspond with the flares of the bow, and appears both beautiful and airy. The mouldings of the planksheer and main rail are carried forward to the extreme, terminate is a point, and form the outline of the head-boards. She has a narrow waist of three strakes, defined between the mouldings of the upper wale and the planksheer, and this is continued round the stern. Her stern is spanned by an arch of gilded carved work, with a bust in its centre, and this arch is divided by smaller arches, which form so many apparent supporters to the main arch above them. The design is beautiful and the execution excellent.
She is coppered up to 16 feet forward, and to 17 feet aft; above the copper she is painted dark bronze color, and has a plain white ribbon upon her waist. Inside she is painted buff color, and her waterways blue. Her cabin accommodation are perfectly beautiful, and are under a half-poop deck, with a house in front. This house forms an ante-room to the cabins, which lead from it by a staircase amidships. The after cabin is wainscotted with gothic arched panels of satin-wood, edged with richly carved flower-work and mahogany, set off with rose-wood pilasters. The cornices are of papier maché, edged with mahogany and gilding. Instead of stern windows, she has plate glass air-ports, and these on the inside are arched, to correspond with the panelling of the sides. The rudder casing and the finishing aft, are gems of beautiful workmanship. Aft she has a rich damask sofa upon the line of what, in a square-sterned ship, would be termed the transom. The forward cabin is tastefully painted and grained, and separated by a partition from that abaft it. In the centre of the partition is a sliding window of stained glass, upon which is a painting of the ship Sovereign of the Seas, one of Queen Elizabeth's navy in 1637. Both cabins have four state-rooms each, and other useful apartments, and both are splendidly furnished. The state-room contains the pantry, and a state-room for the mates. The windows in front of the ante-room are of stained glass, and are also ornamented with two antique ships of the sixteenth century, one of Train's packet ships by the wind, with all sail set, and the yacht America. These show to the eye a brief history of the progress of naval architecture, during the past two centuries.
There are many little details about her cabins which we have not mentioned, such as bread-lockers, places for stores, &c., which show great ingenuity in their arrangement and convenience.
The accommodations for her crew are below forward, and are spacious, well-lighted and ventilated, and fitted with every convenience to render the sailors comfortable.
She has a topgallant forecastle with a capstan on it, an in its after wings water closets for the use of her crew. Amidships, abaft the foremast, her long boat is stowed, with a moveable house at each end of it, one for a galley, and the other for a store-room, the whole forming an oblong square. She has a patent steering apparatus, and patent pumps of copper, which work with a rotary motion and are said to be of great force.
She has a brass mounted capstan on the quarter deck, and over it, a life boat stowed bottom up, one end resting on the front of the ante-room, and the other on a small gallows frame amidships.
The whole height of her bulwarks is about 5½ feet, including the monkey rail. Her bulwark stanchions are of every third top timber, and extend half way down the wales. About a foot below the main rail she has a rack rail, and the space between the two is strengthened by a heavy clamp, bolted through both rails and through the stanchions. The monkey rail is outside of the dead-eyes of the lower rigging and backstays, is plain outside, but flowered with carved branches on the inside. The decks and bulwarks are fastened with composition at every butt, the monkey rail is lined with yellow metal, and her gangway boards are of carved mahogany; in a word, her appearance on deck is truly beautiful; every detail is perfect and of the best materials.
Those who are well informed about the naval architecture of our country, state unhesitatingly that the Dauntless has not been equalled, in soundness of materials and strength of fastening, by any ship of her size which has been built in the United States during the past twenty years. Certain it is that she has cost more money: for everything about her has been done and paid for by the day, and not by contract for the job. A few of her leading details will show the style of her construction. Her keel is of white oak in two depths, with lock scarphs 10 feet long, and the parts bolted together every four feet, with 1 1/8 inch copper. The keel is sided 15 inches, and moulded 3 feet, and is of the same dimensions its whole length. The frame is of Massachusetts pasture white oak, second growth, and is hewed to a square or right angle throughout. All her floor timbers are natural knees, and are sided from 12 to 14 inches, and moulded 16, and every one of them is bolted through the keel with 1 1/8 inch copper. The midship keelson is also of oak, 16 inches square, and this is also bolted through every floor timber and the keel, and riveted with 1¼ inch copper. The sister keelsons are moulded the same as the keelson and sided 8 inches, and are bolted diagonally from the outer angles through the navel timbers into the keel. The riders consist of two pieces of 9 by 16 inches, placed edgewise three inches apart, and over the joints of the sister and main keelsons, and are bolted diagonally through them with 1¼ inch refined iron into the main keelson. She has a 1¼ inch bolt through the keel at every 6 inches, fore and aft. Into the space between the riders, the lower ends of her hold stanchions are fitted and bolted through all horizontally. The main keelson is bored at every two feet, and grooves are cut about the adjoining keelsons, and all are filled with salt. It will be seen, therefore, that the opening between the riders answers the double purpose of securing the stanchions, and seasoning the keelsons.
Her stem is of one piece, with a natural knee at the lower end, which extends along the keel, and is bolted to it. The forward part of the keelson is also a knee, and extends along the apron, and over all she has a stemson, which is also a knee, and these combined form the deadwood, and all are closely bolted with copper. Her stern post is also secured in the same style. her back bone is 7 feet through. The ceiling on her floor is 4 inches thick, and the whole of her bilge is covered with white oak, varying from 9 to 8 inches in thickness, scarphed and square fastened. Her clamps of hard pine, 6½ inches.
The between decks waterways are 16 inches square, curved in the angle, to blend with the thick strake inside of them, which is of oak, 9 by 8 inches, let into the beams below, and cross bolted. The standing strakes over the waterways are 11 by 12 and 10½ by 12, bolted vertically and horizontally, and the ceiling above is 5½ inches, and the clamp 6 inches thick, square fastened, the bolts counter sunk of the inside, and plugged over. The upper deck waterways are 12 inches square, with two hard pine strakes 4½ inches thick inside of them, let over the beams, and bolted in the same style as those below. The upper deck is of white pine, 3½ inches thick, and the lower deck of hard pine, of the same substance. She has 8 hooks forward and 6 aft, and all are of oak, in natural crooks. The lower deck beams are 16 inches square, and those under the upper deck 16 by 10 inches, and the stanchions under both are of oak. Those in the hold are 10 by 12 inches, and, as already described, are stepped between the riders, and are secured to the beams with forged iron knees, bolted through them and the beams, except those in the wake of the hatchways, which are kneed with hacmatack. All the hanging and lodging knees in the hold are of white oak, the former sided from 13 to 11 inches, with 6 feet bodies, and 4½ feet arms, and from 2 feet to 20 inches in the angles, with 24 bolts in each.
The lodging knees are sided 10 inches, and meet and scarph in every berth, and are closely bolted. The knees under the upper deck are of hacmatack and have 24 bolts in each, and the lodging knees in proportion. Her ceiling, in addition to being square fastened, is wedged in every other seam with hard pine, which closes the intermediate seams almost out of sight. The between deck stanchions are turned and secured with iron rods through their centres, in the usual style.
Outside she is oak, sap side out, from the garboards to the planksheer. The garboards are 7 by 14 inches, grubbed into the keel and bolted with 1¼ inch copper bolts through every floor timber, and also through the keel. The bottom plank is 5 inches thick, the wales 5½, and the waist 4 inches, every butt of which is bolted with copper, in addition to the regular bilge bolts. All her treenails are of locust, and all driven through, wedged and plugged. The covering board and main rail are each 6 inches thick, and the bulwark stanchions 6½ by 10, fastened with composition. Her bulwarks are tongued, grooved and headed, and, together with her sides, look as smooth as glass.
She has Emerson's patent ventilators forward and aft, brass ventilators along the line of her planksheer, and those in the wake of her bulwarks, before the poop, are always open, and have tubes over them which fit into the lower part of the rack rail, so that water cannot enter them. The ventilators along the poop, and in her bitts are like those now in general use. Her frame is thoroughly saturated with fine salt, and in every possible way guarded against decay or rot.
Suffice it to say of her furniture, such as the windlass, ground tackle, boats, &c., that she is most liberally supplied. Abaft the mainmast she has a circular iron tank her whole depth, below the upper deck, capable of holding 3000 gallons of water.
She is a full rigged ship, and her fore and main masts each rake one inch to the foot, and the mizzen mast 1¼ inch. Her lower masts have long supporters bolted with copper, and her topgallant rigging is fitted upon copper cylinders over the mast heads, man-of-war fashion. the diameters of her lower masts, commencing with the fore, are 27, 28 and 26 inches, and their lengths 74, 77 and 71 feet, and her lower yards are 63, 68, and 60 feet square, and the other spars in line proportions. Her mast heads are crowned with gilded balls, the masts and yards painted white, and altogether aloft she is as perfect and neat as below.
She was built at Medford, by Mr. Benj. F. Delano, Mr. Pigeon made her spars, Messrs. Lowe & Son rigged her, and Messrs. Gleason & Sons made her ornamental work.
Capt. Miller, as smart and well-tried as sailor as ever trod a rattling, commands her; and we have every confidence in his skill he will make her do her best. She is intended for the Valparaiso trade, and is beyond all comparison, not only the best, but the most beautiful ship in the trade. Her enterprising owner may well feel proud of his work.
Transcribed by Lars Bruzelius.
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Copyright © 1997 Lars Bruzelius.